The Invisible Guardian
by Jounin-Stalker
Summary: What will happen when a mysterious man takes a traumatized Sasuke as his charge? Sasuke begins to dance with insanity and the race to find the cure begins. When the cure turns out to be the enemy, things get complicated. Sasuke and Kakashi Bonding.
1. The Invisible Guardian

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you like the story! No, it's not yaoi at all. Any guy and guy relationship is strictly platonic. I was trying hard to keep the characters in character, I may have veered off the path to that goal but I hope you still enjoy it. This is merely the introduction. I have so many Ideas for me I would gladly take them. I am trying to keep as closest to the story line as possible. I hope I did it right. Thanks.

Disclaimer: I do not own any character or anything affiliated with Naruto.

His father would be angry with him if he didn't get home quickly. The day was slowly creeping to dusk and he completely lost track of time. That alone would be of no excuse to his father. His father desired the best of his children, and would go at any lengths to make them powerful and well disciplined. The memories brought a shiver down the boy's back as he quickly sped through the village almost invisible to the common eye.

The ramen stand held two people who caught flash of the boy, as they quietly ate their meal. One wore a black mask and had wisps of unruly silver hair while the other had black hair and a peculiar scar across his face.

"There goes the Uchiha boy, late again I presume." The masked man muttered.

"He's a talented boy, worries so much of angering his father. You should have seen him

at the examination for an early entry to the academy the other day. You would think that his father was some type a monster if he wasn't so evidently fond of the boy." The scarred one replied with a hint of concern.

"I'm sure he only wishes to please his father. The Uchiha clan is strict in its ways." came a strained, unreadable reply.

A trickle of rain started to run slowly down his face. It was strange to see it since it was sunny all day long. It only furthered the determination of the boy to move forward faster than ever. As he reached the edge of the courtyard he froze with horror and fear. His whole house was on fire. The rain slipped down him like it would to a statue. A flash of lightning reflected a light to his face bringing himself out of his shock. His heart was thumping so loud he would've thought all of Konoha could hear it.

He slowly walks toward the mansion; thinking that it would just disappear. The scuffling on the floor did nothing to change the fact as he reached the front door and heard muffled yells. He slowly creaked open the door only to see his brother's eyes flashed red and dead cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, littered across the floor. Blood flooded the floor more than the rain could, and the cold tears that lay on the frozen, horror-stricken faces told stories that would haunt anyone's dreams for a lifetime.

His mother was a sobbing heap on the floor and his father stood defiantly in front of his son who was dressed in the attire of an ANBU. Yet the father's fear could be smelt by even the boy. Suddenly the boy's brother looked straight at him and the boy gasped. The older brother gave a maniacal grin that scared the younger more than one could see.

"My dear, dear brother, come here and witness the end of tyranny, and weak excuses to the family clan."

The boy didn't know what was happening but he was drawn near to his brother; he seemed near to panic attack. He tried to stop himself, closing his eyes tightly.

"N-no, you can't do th-this."

"Listen to me, brother; it will not bode well with you if you don't." The older one said forcefully causing the boy to quicken his pace to him.

Tears fell unregistered by him in the heat of the room. It's would be but a little time till the roof collapsed from the fire. He wanted to run to each body, just to see if anyone of them were alive. He felt an overwhelming amount of grief. .

"Little brother, wipe those pathetic tears off of your face. Do you not see that our clan needs strengthening and the only way to do that is to do a certain pruning of the family?"

He put an emphasis on the word pruning while throwing a large ball of fire to their father. It went right through him with no resistance. Blood flew in all directions; the boy almost threw up when some of it fell on him. Did his father want to die? Questions zoomed through the young boy's mind, he wanted to scream but he found the moment inappropriate. His mother screamed, his only consolation in life was covered in blood and tears. Tears ran faster down the little Uchiha's face.

"Now the final and sweetest blow will be given, and to the weakest of them all. My dear mother is the victim. Let me test my power onto you." He looked her straight in the eye. The boy didn't know what was happening. His mother started screaming in pain, pleading for him to stop. Finally he pushed his brother with all his might, causing him to lose his focus. The boy was thrown roughly against the wall and his mother gave her last breath.

"Stupid child, I have not yet tested this technique that I have worked hard to get. Maybe I should test it on you." The older one sneered. The pain in his back did not quell the fear that arose in the young boy's stomach.

His brother looked at him straight in the eyes and yelled, "Mangekyō Sharingan!"

The pain was unreal, he saw his parent's death in an extreme amount of detail. Every small plea, every drop of blood was played in slow motion till he could count each one. It was played until he was broken down into desperate sobs, played until he was screaming for it to stop. He finally gave up all reserve when he heard his mom say "I love you, Sasuke" on her very last breath. Finally it all disapeared; he looked at his brother through his tears, glaring fiercly. He ran to him and tried to throw fire at him, but it was to no avail. He was thrown against the wall once again.

"Foolish, little brother; if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way, run, run, and cling to life."

That is what the young boy did, he ran, and ran trying to forget the pain, despair, and anger that took over him. He tripped and fell so many times, but it didn't stop him from running. He could hear sirens of all sorts going off and screams that were unrecognizable. He finally reached the depths of the forest unaware of a ninja following him. His pace finally slowed down; his eyes were too tired to open. He got a wave of diziness, with one last sob then everything went black. Strong arms caught him and brought him close to his bosom.

"Itachi, what have you done?" The man asked desperately and brokenly. He then rushed torwards the village with one of the last survivors of the Uchiha clan.

* * *

A few days passed as Kakashi spent most of his time at the burned down Uchiha mansion, searching for clues or at the hospital, secretly checking on a certain traumatized patient. He was only caught once by a pink-haired girl, with very long bangs. She was humming a familiar American song and putting what looked like a gold ring on the boy's left hand. She had looked up suddenly and flushed pink and quickly ran out of the room. Kakashi rolled his eyes and took the ring off of Sasuke's finger.

He looked at the boy who was healing nicely but still hadn't woke up from his deep slumber. Kakashi agreed that Sasuke should sleep as long as he wanted just to prolong the severe emotional damage that he would wake up to.

Kakashi sighed with grief, "Where did I go wrong? I'm so sorry, Obito; I have failed you…" The story was that Kakashi had taken Itachi under his wing when he found a lot of similarities that he had in his youth. He thought he could change Itachi and help the boy not make the same mistakes. He watched him so carefully, and always kept an especially close eye on him during ANBU missions. How horribly wrong Kakashi was, Itachi grew up so bitter and cold.

He acknowledged only a few people and practically ignored his father and mother. He gave an occasional smile to Sasuke, but the smile was strange in itself. It was only but a few days ago when Kakashi gave him a stern lecture on caring about friends more than power. That was after he showed a bit of indifference to his best friend's so called suicide. Itachi looked at him angrily but something in his eyes told Kakashi that he was fighting with a demon inside of him. He looked like he was about to strike Kakashi but then only patted him on the shoulder.

"_I would never kill you, Kakashi."_ He had said in a serious but almost twisted sort of way. Itachi left and Kakashi had a horrible feeling that he had lost someone he thought of as a younger brother or, could he say it, a son.

* * *

A week later Kakashi found himself rushing towards the Hokage's office at an uncharted speed. He heard some news and needed more information and he needed it quickly. He stopped at the door to the building and composed himself and walked in. He walked at his usual slow pace as if the world meant nothing to him. A sort of indifference he had created to hide his abilities and his emotion. It was a good way to train his body in self-discipline. He nodded to the guard's and knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.

"Come in, Kakashi" The Hokage said calmly. Kakashi slowly enter, leaning on the wall with one lazy eye.

"Hello, Sandaime. Everything is starting to clean up after the terrible tragedy. How is the young Uchiha boy doing?" He said nonchalantly, but he inwardly cringed at how rushed it sounded.

"Oh, well, he woke up just last night; there were no hysterics but he was unusually quiet. He did everything anybody told him without complaint. A bit strange for someone who has just turned eight, don't you think? A few tests were done and he seems physically fine." The Hokage answered.

"Just out of curiosity, what are you going to do with the boy who has no relatives remaining?" Kakashi asked apathetically.

"Well, were putting him in an orphanage, a very nice one called The Privileged Orphan Boy's Residence. You've seen it, haven't you?" The Hokage asked innocently.

The Hokage wasn't really giving him any information on what they were going to do to help Sasuke with his mental help. Stuffing the poor boy in an orphanage wasn't going to help anyone.

"Are their going to be any check-ups by special doctors for the boy? You know, out of curiosity's sake."

"Oh, he has no permanent damage for that to be needed. I'm sure the orphanage will suffice. We'll just hope for the best."

Kakashi inwardly sighed…Okay, more like inwardly tore his hair out. He resisted the urge to scream. They were just going to throw him in the orphanage with all that mental pain? How in the world could they do that? Over the past few days he had a surge of affection for the cute, solemn boy. The times he visited were increasing everyday, from one time to three times to five times a day. One night when there was some decrease in his health, he stayed there the whole night, stroking Sasuke's hair, worriedly watching him, hoping he wouldn't die on him.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, sir? I mean he could be suffering a lot." He said in a strained voice.

"Cut the act, Kakashi. You care for the boy; it's so obvious. You spend most of your time watching the boy and you worry so much that I can finally tell the difference from gray hair to silver hair. I know you know what that orphanage is; you visit it any time you can, silently and mysteriously watching the boys and helping the hurt ones. You've gotten so popular there you earned the name the "Invisible Guardian." You spend half your money donating it there and the other half on books and pretend to be nagging Iruka to get money for food when actually you're watching the children. You have a soft spot for children and a deadly weak spot for orphans."

So this was all a mind game by the Hokage to find out if Kakashi cared... "Humph, where did he get all that knowledge from?" Kakashi thought stubbornly. Kakashi put up his calm indifferent façade again.

"I believe you know too much; I've come to the conclusion that I'll just have to kill you." He said jokingly with a slight hint of seriousness.

The Hokage laughed slightly and then his face came abruptly serious, "I have a proposition for you involving Sasuke." Kakashi sat down and looked at him calmly.

"Go on."

"At the orphanage, every boy gets their own apartment equipped with two rooms and several other rooms a normal house would have. One room is for the boy and the other is for their case guardian. The orphanage is very big but only contains about ten boys. I'm sure you know this with your constant visits. I want to ask you to be the boy's case guardian. Have the Invisible Guardian returned to the house permanently."

Kakashi looked genuinely surprised and at loss for words, "But I am an ANBU- what will the people think- and I'm 23- I-," Kakashi stuttered through his broken sentences.

"I have that arranged, you can quit being an ANBU, which I believe you were going to do in the first place. To hinder you from going out of the village for missions you can be a Jounin and try and find a trio of Genin that are up to your standards. Which I'm quite certain is rare thing to find. While you're _trying _to find Genin to pass your test you can work in the strategy department for missions. I believe your quick thinking would be highly needed. You can become his mysterious guardian at night and the evening so people won't know anything about it. I know you are 23 but you're far too mature for anyone to guess your age plus you would be an excellent guardian." The Hokage said resolutely while Kakashi pondered how much time Sandaime actually had on his hands.

Kakashi cleared his throat eagerly, ready to agree, but the Jounin thought one comment wouldn't hurt, just for fun, "You've seemed to have thought this out thoroughly, but what if I say no?"

"Then I would have to kill you." He said with a completely straight face.

* * *

Sasuke carried a small rucksack full of the stuff that wasn't burned by the fire. That was only the special stuff he kept in a metal, secured box. He didn't look at anyone in the eyes and if he did he would only glare at them. He would never be happy again, he would avenge his family and die as peacefully as possible. That was his only goal in life now.

He felt like he had been following this guy for ages. The guy was walking so slow explaining things about plants and stuff that they saw, like he actually enjoyed the stupid hike.

"Let's take the long way to the orphanage to see the scenery," Sasuke mentally mocked. He just wanted to kick the guy in the shin, run off, and find out how long it would take a Jounin to find him and bring him back kicking and screaming. No, then he would bite his hand and run off again making sure he wasn't found.

Sasuke smirked at his thoughts and found that they had finally arrived at the huge mansion. It was five times bigger than his house, at least. They entered the quiet orphanage; something that was strange to him. He would've thought it would be louder. Well, all the better for him. After a quick tour, they brought him to where he would be staying. He was definitely not prepared for what he saw. They entered to see a large living room eloquently decorated with a huge piano and to the left was a large training room. The whole floor of the room was covered with a mat and was full of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu equipment. To the right was a corridor that led to a bathroom, a very large library filled with training books (yes!) and educational books (bleh!), and at the end was a large kitchen with a refrigerator and pantry full of wholesome, healthy food. What, no chips?

They went back to living room and walked up a narrow set of stairs that Sasuke missed when looking at the training room. They entered his. It was big, with a nice comfy bed and its own bathroom. There was a desk full of every tool needed by a student for study. There was a bookshelf full of more training books and his school curriculum; he passed the examination, which seemed so long ago. There was also a small training area seemed to be used for morning exercises, and a TV. His dad never let him have a TV, he thought it fruitless.

He was going to have this all to himself, how wonderful, completely to himself.

"You guardian suggested all of this stuff for the house."

All to his- what-, wait a minute! "What do you mean _guardian_!" Sasuke sputtered; the most emotion he showed in the last few days. The man raised his eyebrow.

"Did you really think we would leave an eight year old kid here all alone? What did you think the extra bedroom was for? Each boy is assigned a Case Guardian. Yours is quite a legend here, called the invisible guardian. He never settled down with a kid, you're the first. He remains mysterious though, he'll only be here from early in the evening to early in the morning. Though he's a good guardian, he has his ways of watching you when he's not here. I trust him. You got the top guardian, you must feel so lucky." The man said smiling.

"_So_ lucky." Sasuke muttered snidely.

* * *

Kakashi quickly took the hidden stairway to his room in the orphanage. He put his book in his black bookshelf with all the other adult books. There was only one shelf that didn't hold his adult books; it was the top one. He never touched and already it was accumulating dust on the ledge. It was full of his father's coded journals; he deciphered the last journal's last page and never touched it again. He kept them though.

He put on some casual clothes, being careful to hide his jounin outfit in his closet. He concentrated on turning his hair black and put it in a ponytail. He kept his mask on and had tinted glasses so you couldn't see his sharigan eye, you could see the good eye better than the sharigan one. They were specially made by an eyeglass doctor to give a slight illusion for the eye to look normal. He looked in the mirror and was surprised how different he looked and how young he looked. It was exactly five 'o clock. He exited his door and slowly heard gently thumping and yelling downstairs.

He walked down to the room, leaning against the wall only to find Sasuke kicking a dummy in a full-blown sweat. He wondered how long the kid had been training. He looked dehydrated and exhausted; he thought that it was time for Sasuke to stop.

"Sasuke." He called, he got no answer. He said it a bit louder… Still no answer. He yelled it and Sasuke frowned and started yelling louder and kicking harder. Kakashi finally tired of trying to get the kid to stop, seeing that he was willfully not listening to him. He thought he should get a little serious; Kakashi was not to be messed with. He walked over to the boy and grabbed his foot and lifted him from the ground upside-down until the boy's eyes were in his view.

The boy pouted and crossed his arms, glaring at what he deduced was his guardian. He was strong, that was for sure and you could barely see his eyes. He was wearing a mask like he had seen quite a few Jounin and Chunin wear. Pfft, like he was ninja... A Case Guardian for an orphanage could _never_ be a ninja.

"Good, you're listening; I think you should take a break. I can make a quick dinner while you freshen up. You have twenty minutes to be down here to eat, and please put a civil face on while you're at it." He said calmly, with barely a hint of emotion but one could sense a threat is his uninterested attitude. He slowly put Sasuke down who stood with his arms crossed, glaring kunais. "My name is Kaishi, my surname is not important and your name is Uchiha Sasuke. Formalities are done. Now chop, chop, go up stairs."

Sasuke just stood there glaring; he did not like his guardian. Much to bossy for his taste. He's mature enough to know what he wanted to doand when he wanted to. His father let him do whatever he wanted to as long as he got stronger.

"Is there something you wanted to say or are you so _weak _that you can't move out of your spot? Either way, speak up or I'll help you get up stairs to freshen up. I'm sure you don't want that experience." He said with his eye curving. Sasuke nose twitched in disgust and quickly trudged upstairs.

Dinner involved one table, two plates, and two people sitting across from each other. One was stabbing their food angrily imagining a certain person while doing it and stuffing it in his mouth. The other calmly ate his, highly amused by his charge's antics. Kakashi was about to say eat your vegetables when Sasuke glared at him while stuffing a piece of broccoli in his mouth. It seemed that he didn't mean to because gagged it out quickly. Kakashi couldn't hold in the laugh and Sasuke glowered even more.

"Oh, come on, you act like you've never eaten a vegetable in your life." Kakashi said ina slightly exasperatedtone. Sasuke growled and started to get up but Kakashi looked at him pointedly.

"Finish your food, Sasuke; you've been working all day and you haven't eaten that much in the past week. If you want to regain your strength eat your food." Kakashi said seriously this time.

Sasuke sat down; he felt like the time when he was four and his mom told him to eat his food so he could grow big and strong. He wasn't a little kid anymore. This guy was getting on his nerves. After they were finished, Sasuke put his plate in the sink, Kakashi told him to go to the living room so they could talk. Sasuke thus rolled his eyes, walked to the living room and sat angrily on the sofa.

Kakashi walked in and leaned against the wall again. "I thought we would set a few ground rules. Just to get you started, the first one is; do what I say."

"That's original." Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi ignored him.

"Don't ever enter my room"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow.

"Put all your little energy together and try and respect me."

Sasuke glared at him.

"After your classes, that you are starting tomorrow, come straight home everyday unless I'm told otherwise. Trust me, I know when you'll get home."

Sasuke glared even more.

"No deceitfulness at all unless it's required in your curriculum. Lying to me really shouldn't be apart of it though"

If it was possible, the boy glared even harder.

"Finally, by no means at all, will I ever want to catch you hurting or betraying a friend for your own selfish reasons." Kakashi said that so strongly that Sasuke didn't know how to answer with that one. That one seemed to be the only reasonable rule.

"Okay, it's getting late; it's time for you to go to bed." Kakashi said while Sasuke rewarded him with another glare. He stomped up to his room again without a word. Ha! Like he was going to bed. He was going to read one of his training books late into the night. He wasn't tired. He was not a little kid who needed to go to bed at a certain time. Kaishi treats him like a child. _Humph, that guy has got to go!

* * *

_

He was sitting in his bed, reading the book when a half hour later he heard his door creak open and Kaishi stuck his head in. When he saw Sasuke still awake, having no fear on his face that he was awake; Kakashi rolled his eyes, unseen by Sasuke. Well, at least he's obeying the no deceitfulness rule, Kakashi reasoned with himself. Might as well get serious here, this kid has got to rest. Did this kid look in the mirror to see how tired he looked? The dark rings under his eyes screamed tired. Kakashi was not going to tolerate Sasuke getting sick because he wouldn't sleep.

"I told you go to sleep a half and hour ago." Kakashi pointed out.

"Yes." Sasuke said evenly, "I'm not tired" Finally; he got some words out of the boy.

"You look tired."

"Well I'm not."

"Go to bed."

"No."

Kakashi walked quickly to Sasuke and took the book out of his hands snapping it shut. He put the book away. "Glare at me all you want, I'm not leaving till you go to sleep."

"Then I'll glare at you all night."

"I don't find that likely, Sasuke."

"I don't care" Sasuke said solemnly.

About 20 minutes later, Sasuke tried hard to keep his eyes open but they were tired from glaring and the room was very quiet. Kakashi just sat there, staring at him as if he was bored. Sasuke finally drifted off into sleep, growling into unconsciousness.

Kakashi slowly walked up to Sasuke and concernedly checked his temperature. It was a little high but the sleep would take it away. He stroked his hair and sighed. "Here I thought I was taking care of a traumatized child. I guess I was wrong; all I got was a spoiled one." Of course Kakashi was kidding, but he couldn't help but feel that this was going to be a long week, or month, or year, or decade…

* * *

A/N: Please Review, I would love to hear your thoughts! I have the next chapter almost done. It'll be done faster magically if you guys review! Thanks to my beta SarahofEarth! 


	2. New Friendships

New Friendships

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated to Naruto!

Thank you all reviewers. I will work hard to answer your reviews! .

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes to the sunlight that crept through the windows. It was a summer morning, when the sun rose especially early. He glanced blearily at the clock in a sleepy daze. "5:10 AM" was what his clock read. He wondered for a moment where he was. He looked around the room until his eyes wandered to a book lying on his desk. All of last night's events came rushing back. He snarled in frustration of having fallen asleep. Was his will power that low?

_What a piece of scum_ was all he thought of the guardian. He was just quietly reading a book to improve his skills. How was that wrong! How dare he order him to go to sleep when training is so much more important? Of course that _idiot_ wouldn't understand since he wasn't a ninja. He tried to act like one but he wasn't good at all. A little muscle and a dorky mask didn't make you a ninja.

"Baka Kaishi, he treats me like a kid. I'll show him I'm more than that. I'm a full-fledged ninja. I'm better than some snot-nosed academy kids." Sasuke muttered.

At first Sasuke was somewhat excited to go to the academy, though after the examination and the death of his clan, he saw it more of a hindrance. That's what he called it, but anyone who knew anything knew he was a bit nervous of what people would think about him and his clan. He didn't think he wanted to face them. Though, he would never admit that, even under the most extreme circumstances.

Through Sasuke's silent five minute brooding, a brilliant idea came to mind to show that idiot guardian what he could do. He concluded that his guardian looked like the type of guy who slept a long time and that he was still asleep. He decided he would sneak in his room, throw a little fire at him in his bed, yell a few things, and maybe the guy would open his eyes and leave him alone. Sasuke smirked victoriously over his cunning plan, well as cunning as a deranged eight-year-old could get.

He quickly and quietly padded out of his room and down the hallway. He suddenly stopped. Wasn't there a rule about going into this room? Pfft, like he cared! He reached the door and he put his hand on the doorknob, he was about to turn it, yet suddenly a hand grabbed his wrist and whirled him around. He found himself staring at none other than his, fully dressed, fully awake guardian, Kaishi. Kaishi was crouched down so that he was eye level with Sasuke, his face was unreadable but the pressure on Sasuke's wrist was more than enough information on the mood his guardian was in.

Sasuke pulled his hand away from his guardian's hand and reveled in the small triumph of getting out of the man's grip. It was quickly quelled when the man turned from looking extremely pissed off to absolutely unconcerned. Did he let go of his arm on purpose! Kaishi was leaning against the wall once again staring condescendingly at Sasuke.

"Do you usually spend your mornings thinking of ways to cause trouble? If that's the case, I think I'll have to sleep in your room to keep a closer eye on you." He said suggestively.

"Pervert." Was Sasuke's biting reply, while he gave his usual death glare. The man was unfazed, agitating Sasuke even more.

"I expect, when you wake up, for you to start your morning _exercises_, as that is what the small _gym_ in your room is for. I do not expect you to running around playing _childish_ games. If that so-called _genius_ mind of yours can't remember my rules than maybe you would like to _recite_ them to me for an _hour_." Kaishi said in a more serious tone, emphasizing on words just to annoy Sasuke. Sasuke stared silently at Kaishi, Kaishi crouched down again and his more visible eye curved into a half-crescent, "Do I make myself clear?" he said in a fake sweet tone.

"Hn." Was all Sasuke said, only a slight nod indicated that he agreed. He walked to his room furiously trying to figure his guardian out. Yesterday he stops him from training and now he wants him to train! This guy made no sense at all! He aggressively took all his frustration out on the dummies doing various Taijutsu moves.

Kakashi was down stairs making breakfast and lunch. He shook his head in amazement on how this eight year old thought. In intelligence he was unusually beyond his years but emotionally he was very much with his age group, if not a bit stunted. The boy's priorities and reasoning were dangerously askew; which all pointed to his upbringing. Intelligence is priority and the well-being of the person is unheard of. That was the way of the Uchiha clan. Kakashi intended to change the mindset of his charge, and hopefully be more of a success than he was with Itachi. He closed his eyes briefly in regret; he still was trying to come to terms with what Itachi did. He sadly sighed for a moment before putting the food on the table.

Kakashi smiled wearily with the thought of dragging the boy out of his training. It was so much like calling a young child inside for bed. Well, in an unbalanced sort of way.

He lightly walked to the top floor and eyed Sasuke's room carefully; the dummy was torn to pieces. He remembered quite clearly the salesman saying the dummy was indestructible. He probably never experienced an Uchiha with a temper problem.

Kakashi's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a kunai whizzing towards his head. He stepped to the side with an air of ease. The kunai promptly stuck into the wall putting an unattractive dent in it.

"You threw a kunai at me." Kakashi stated plainly, though a question rang in the air.

"You were spying on me." the boy answered accusingly, glaring vehemently.

"How did you know I was going to dodge it?"

"I didn't." Sasuke smirked impishly. Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle at this causing another kunai to fly his way.

* * *

Sasuke stared stonily at the academy that loomed before him. Groups of children were spread across the front, some running, some sparring, some hurriedly doing homework.

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned with his head towards the ground. He quickened his pace towards the front office and inquired about the location of his classroom. He was pointed towards a classroom but not without a group of women crooning at how handsome and adorable he was. This only put him in a stormier mood as he quickly walked to his classroom. He found himself in the room and no one was in there. He gave a sigh of relief and quietly took the furthest seat from where his sensei was going to be. He took the book he was reading the night before and lost all consciousness of the world around him.

"Hello Sasuke." A voice suddenly rang through the air; Sasuke quickly smothered him being startled by smoothly getting up and nodding to his teacher. The teacher gave a weird smile like he knew better, but in some way it was very comforting. His guardian's smile was the opposite; it always seemed… Sadistic.

"I'm Iruka-Sensei. It's pleasure to have you in class." He genuinely welcomed Sasuke. Sasuke could tell this guy was weird; he acted as if he knew nothing about the Uchiha clan and what happened in the past week.

Sasuke just humored the teacher with a nod and sat down. Right then a rush of students walked in, most talking animatedly while stacking papers on the sensei's desk. Everyone took their seats and Iruka-sensei started to explain something on charka. It was obviously very boring and unimportant. Sasuke already knew this stuff, so he slumped in his chair and quietly read his book.

"Hey." A gruff, low voice called to him. He ignored it, like _he_ wanted to talk to some stupid kid. "Hey, Uchiha." The voice called again nudging him slightly. Sasuke still ignored, trying desperately to concentrate on reading only to find the book taken away. He looked up while mustering the angriest death glare. His eyes landed on the one and only Hyuga Neji.

"Give me my book back, Dobe." He whispered furiously. He did not care at all about this brat's "social status." The boy chuckled slightly strumming precariously through the book.

"Hmmm, do you know what I could do to you with the power I have? I'll be lenient on you this time if you give me this book." The boy said haughtily. Sasuke glared with a slight temple throb; this only made Neji smirk.

Sasuke grunted slightly and made a lunge for his book. Neji leaned backwards on his chair bringing the book an inch away from Sasuke's grasp. Sasuke, beginning to get frustrated, pulled out a shuriken and threw it at Neji's back chair legs, causing them to slice and half. Neji did a quiet back flip and caught the chair before it clanked to the ground. Sasuke aimed and kicked Neji's hand that was holding the book. Neji just flipped the book to his other hand. After several attempts to kick the book out of his hands and Neji throwing the book from one hand to another, Sasuke took another route by slamming his foot in Neji's nose. This only ended in Sasuke damaging his book because Neji used it as a shield.

Although there was barely a bit of sound made by the two, the only person _not_ staring at Neji and Sasuke was Iruka-sensei. The man was busy writing something on the board.

"Give. Me. My. Book." Sasuke whispered putting an emphasis on each word.

"See if you can catch it before it reaches that opened window." Neji said, aiming for the window right by Iruka-sensei. Neji threw the book like a kunai but it only touched the tips of Sasuke's finger. They watched in slight trepidation as the book, aimed for the window, slammed and firmly lodged itself right into Iruka-sensei's chalkboard. Iruka's neat handwriting was now completely crooked and his chalk was angrily dispersed into dust.

"Nice aim." Sasuke muttered sarcastically.

Iruka whirled around angrily and pointed to his ruined chalkboard.

"Who did this!"

* * *

After a long lecture, repairs, and staying an hour after class, Neji and Sasuke finally left the academy. Sasuke glared whole-heartedly at Neji as much as he could. Neji looked unfazed so Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and walked the pathway to his place. Neji ran up to him.

"Look, I'm sorry and whatever I'm supposed to say. It wasn't that big of a deal, you don't have to act like it is." Neji said with a slight haughtiness. Sasuke continued to ignore him and started to walk a little faster.

"To tell you the truth I like you. I think we have a lot in common. Our own family member killed our family and I'm sure you want to get stronger for revenge like I do. I mean you may be a little on the weak side but you think we could maybe train together?" Neji said offhandedly. Sasuke stopped and looked at him for a second.

"Fine, but don't get in my way." Sasuke said as he continued to walk to the orphanage. Neji silently followed. Once they reached the area Sasuke quickly went in and went to his apartment as to avoid any of the other kids. Neji followed the suit if not a little confused by Sasuke's actions.

"I don't want to bump into some spoiled, orphan kids." Sasuke answered the silent question that hung in the air.

"So this is where you live. It's pretty nice. Do you live here alone?"

"No, I have a case guardian."

"He seems to leave you alone. You must get to do anything you want." Neji said longingly.

"I don't know much about him but he doesn't really let me do anything." Sasuke muttered bitterly.

"What does he do for a living?"

Sasuke shrugged at this question and sat down on the couch.

"I don't know anything about the guy. He seems to be intent on keeping it that way. He won't even let me in his room."

"You're actually listening to him?"

"Yes. I'm not exactly interested in the guy"

"If you want to be a good ninja you have to have good information gathering skills. I mean, who knows who this guy is?"

"He told me not to-"

"Who cares what he says, let's check it out." Neji said casually, Sasuke stared at him for a moment. "Sasuke, seriously, what's the most a little case guardian can do?"

Sasuke got up and showed Neji where his guardian's room was. Neji slowly opened the door to a very plain and practical room.

There was a bit of workout equipment in the right-hand corner while a dresser with a mirror to the left. A neatly-made bed stood between these two items. At the furthest corner was a bookshelf full of adult books and on the top shelf held some old, tattered books that were not labeled.

"Well, he's a pervert. That's usually a good thing to know." Neji said walking to the bookshelf. He pulled out one of the top, unlabeled books. He strummed through it.

"This is strange, none of this makes sense. It's all written in code. Why would he have this?" Neji asked as his snow-white eyes narrowed in confusion. Sasuke walked over to see the book written in what seemed to be another language. Neji carefully put the book back.

"That helps a lot." Sasuke said facetiously.

"Well, let's try his closet; that might help some."

They walked to his closet and opened the door only to be thoroughly surprised. There were jounin vests neatly hung across the room. There were shelves of scrolls, books, and any sort of literature known to a ninja. There were more weapons and some didn't even have names. There was also a lot of medical equipment sprawled on the floor.

Neji turned around with a slight laugh, "You're screwed."

"Thanks for pointing that out." Sasuke answered sulkily.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon was spent hiding all evidence that they even entered the room. Neji thought it was the greatest thing to have a jounin as a guardian and talked about how Sasuke could learn so much. He even had the audacity to ask if he could train with Sasuke. Sasuke held a more pessimistic view on this. A jounin was more alert, strict, and could beat him up.

It was evening time and Sasuke was studying one of his books. Well, he more stared at it broodingly while deep in thought. What jounin had the gall to take care of an orphan? Who would even care enough about him to want to take care of him? Thoughts were whirling through his mind; it kept him busy enough not to notice the silver-haired ninja quietly peeking into his room.

Kakashi just arrived and thought he would just take a quick glance at his charge just to see if everything was alright. Satisfied, he silently walked to his room and began to change his appearance. After he was done he went to put away his book in the bookshelf when something caught his eye. The dust around his fathers journals; there was a gap with no dust at all. It was as if someone took one of the journals out. He looked at the area with his Sharigan and everything became clear. He saw everything touched and everything moved.

The door opened to Sasuke's room. It wasn't loud and it wasn't quiet, but it was enough to cause Sasuke to start out of his thoughts. He quickly got up and turned around to see what he expected, his guardian, Kaishi. He wasn't looking happy and he wasn't looking mad. He gave off that vibe that intimidated Sasuke. It's not like Sasuke would ever admit that though.

Kaishi pointed at Sasuke's bed, "Sit" he said in a deep professional tone. Sasuke sat down on the bed and looked at Kaishi.

"Answer all my questions truthfully. I have my ways of knowing where you are and what happened." He said as if he was interrogating a criminal. Sasuke resisted the urge to glower seeing as his new discovery that his caretaker was a Jounin. He nodded curtly instead.

"What time did you get home?"

"Two-thirty."

"You were an hour late than when you're expected to be here. Why?"

"I had to stay after class due to some trouble with another kid."

"The kid's name?"

"Neji."

"Did he come with you home?" There was a pause.

"Yes."

"Did he convince you to enter my room?"

Silence.

"Have you lost the ability to speak? Answer my question."

"Yes" was an exasperated reply.

"You know I'm Jounin?

"_Yes_"

There was a pregnant pause. Kaishi straightened himself up.

"It seems that we need to strengthen your willpower. You blindly followed a Neji when I told you not to. Follow me."

Sasuke followed him warily not too sure what in the world this Jounin was playing at. After a while, they reached a large field, and Kaishi put a stool and a glass of water on it.

"Will power is the trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior; or the strength of will to carry out one's decisions, wishes, or plans. Either way you did not do either. In order to become a good ninja, willpower is vital become strong. Tonight we are going to work on strengthening your will power. I want you to not drink the glass of water."

Sasuke scoffed slightly.

"I'm not finished. I want you to not drink this glass of water until you finish 20 laps around this field. With the right amount of willpower you will be able to boost your survival and endurance skills."

Sasuke just stared at him.

"Come on, start now." Sasuke started to run. After a long, grueling half-hour and many strong urges to grab that pure, clean cup of water he finally made it. Kaishi handed him the cup.

"It took you a certain amount of willpower to succeed in finishing the laps without drinking the water. In training as a ninja you'll need a lot of willpower to defeat things like genjutsu moves and to survive pain. Use willpower to break this illusion."

Kaishi shaped his hands to look like the rat and yelled, "Narakumi no Jutsu"

Suddenly, Sasuke found himself in a lake of fire. He was burning! He looked around and was trying not to panic.

"Sasuke, do not panic. Use your willpower to break the illusion. Remember, do not give in to it. Your mind has strength. This will help exercise it. Concentrate on what the area used to looked like and resist all effects of what you see. You must come to me and disrupt my chakra flow to disactivate this illusion. Come to me."

The field was larger than what it used to be and Sasuke felt like he was actually on fire. He wanted to roll up into a ball and try and get rid of the pain. He knew that wouldn't work. He was drenched in sweat and pushed forward to make it to Kaishi. After several pauses and tiring attempts he made it to Kaishi. Kashi was instructing him the whole time, with several yells and taunts added in. Suddenly, there was a large wall in front of him. He ignored it, it couldn't be real, could it? he pushed through it and gave the hardest kick possible.

It was enough for it all to disappear. Sauske was on the ground breathing heavily. He looked around and saw that he only walked about ten feet. There was nothing anywhere. Kakashi helped him up.

"That took you about two hours to do. We'll need to work on that.We'll work on it next week, maybe. Study your books and maybe it will take a shorter amount of time." Kakashi admonished him, but Sasuke was to tired to be embarrassed.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked through his heavy breaths.

"Another time, Sasuke." Kakashi said softly. They walked home for what seemed like hours. Sasuke stubbornly refused any help whatsoever. When he got home, he went straight to bed without any food.

Kakashi shook his head tiredly. He would have to admit that holding that justsu for two hour took a lot out of him. Kakash went to Sasuke's room and stared at him for a while. He wondered if he could change him, or help him better than he did Itachi. He didn't want to fail him. There still was a nagging feeling that failure was what will always follow him. He shook his head once again, and retired to his room.

* * *

Sasuke woke up in a sweat. It was four 'o clock in the morning and he was shivering from his nightmare. He looked around to find he was in the safety of his room. The last few days he was sleeping longer. Before, in the hospital, he would wake every hour, but his exhaustion tonight caused him a longer term of dreamless sleep. He got up from his bed and took out a book. He say down and started reading it.

After ten minutes of staring blankly, he sighed. The last few days had been so busy he hardly had time to remember his clan's death. It was like an ache that appaeared everytime he remebered. He wanted to throw up as his stomach plummeted into the truth and the reality. He wanted it to be just a dream. Was there ever such a thing?

He wondered if he could've stopped it. Maybe if he was home earlier… It was just like Kaishi said, he lacked willpower. He was late because he lacked willpower to stay alert in his training. He sighed heavily. Was it usual to think everything was your fault? He decided it was half his fault and the other half was his older brother's. He threw the book against the wall in rageat the thought of his brother. He started training harshly with his equpiment. The heat of his anger was boiling his blood.

"_You will not survive me, Nii-san_!"

* * *

A/N: Hey readers! I just finished this chapter. I'm must say it was a bit difficult to characterized Neji. I also added many diferent types of scenes here to balance out the chapter. Tell me your thoughts and what you'd like to see in the stories. I love experimenting with characters. Give my you input! Thank you! Please review! Thanks to my Beta, SarahofEarth. 


	3. School Panic

Sorry for the horribly long time for an update. I promise the next one will be faster! Enjoy!

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_"Happy birthday, brother!" Sasuke's older brother said while grabbing his hands. Sasuke felt something was horribly wrong but he couldn't remember feeling this relaxed since he was very young._

_"I have a surprise for you. Come on!"_

_His brother led him down a pathway. He desperately tried to keep up, wanting so bad to know what his surprise was. They finally reached a large tent with two red lakes by it. Before Sasuke could ask why they were red; Itachi gave him an explanation._

_"I needed to clean you're present."_

_They entered the tent to find a large stage with his families' corpses tied with strings. The wandered aimlessly across the stage like a marionette. Sasuke found strings suddenly attached to his body._

_"They were too hard to control alive. You'll be easier; won't you, brother?_

Sasuke woke up breathlessly. It only had been two weeks since the nightmares began. He would get roughly two or three hours of sleep and spend the rest of his time with his nose in a book or quietly training. He wasn't sure what his guardian would think of his horrible sleeping habits, but he didn't want to find out. He found that Kakashi usually got up at four in the morning. His guardian was very well disciplined and spent most of the morning training at an extraordinary level. He found this by watching through a crack in Kakashi's door.

It was 2 AM this morning; he tended to stay up late. It wasn't that he wanted to stay up that late. He just stared at ceiling counting the hours as anxiety play with his nerves. His dreams carried so much blood, so much loss, and so much anger.

Sasuke had yet to find out why someone with everything going for him would take care of some burdensome boy. He found that his guardian kept a very close eye in him and knew things that were impossible for him to know. Kakashi and he sort of reached an understanding after the jounin incident. In a way Sasuke gave him a bit more respect while Kakashi gave him some help with training. They had gotten a little closer this way. He hoped he would find some way to thank Kakashi for all he had done; even if Sasuke didn't understand why he'd done it.

He wondered how long he could keep his irregular sleeping habits to himself. He sighed deeply as he wearily pulled himself up, and walked to his bathroom. He threw up his dinner in such a casual manner as if he had been doing it for years. It worried him, as his body began to get heavier as the days passes by. His anger was the only thing that fueled him these days.

He tiredly walked to his training equipment and began his exercises. He was slower this morning. It angered him; he pushed himself harder till wave of dizziness passed through his eyes. Was he that weak? He began to train faster than ever.

It only took an hour for him to realize how thirsty he was. He was hot all over and felt himself weakening. He was so hot yet he was shivering from cold. He'd have to ask Neji for some tips on increasing stamina. He deftly crept down the stairs to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He leaned back slowly to the counter as a slight pain in his temple prodded through. Headaches were becoming more common as his world began to be more complicated and as he pushed himself passed his limits. He wondered if it would ever slow down. He groaned as he rubbed one of his temples.

"Are you alright?" a soft voice startled him out of the pain. Before he could answer a cool hand was placed on his head. Much to his embarrassment he leaned to the touch. It felt so relieving to have the cold hand against his head. He heard Kakashi sigh as he lowered his hands below Sasuke's jaw to check if his glands were swollen.

Sasuke woke out of his small reverie and pulled himself reluctantly from the cool hands. He wondered briefly why Kakashi was up so early. As if Kakashi read his mind.

"I've noticed that you've been waking very early. I assumed that since you've been going to sleep at nine-thirty that you were getting enough sleep I believe I was wrong since the past few days you've been looking ill. I decided to watch you tonight to see what exactly the problem is. You go to sleep at midnight and wake at two or three just to spill your dinner and you foolishly train into exhaustion. You're staying home today." Kakashi said resolutely.

The protest stuck to his throat as he looked at the usually barely discernable face tensed with seriousness. He rubbed his tired eyes as they burned with exhaustion. He felt he couldn't get out of the leaning position he was in at the moment. He didn't realize that he gotten himself so sick. He felt the glass that he was holding, taken out of his hands.

He opened his eyes to see Kakashi putting the cup in the sink. Sasuke grudgingly got out of his position and went up the stairs gloomily. He hated getting sick. This time he felt sicker than ever, and he didn't think he could get good enough sleep to get better. He walked to his bedroom and flopped right on his bed. His eyes immediately dropped as he fell into a nightmare once again.

_Sasuke sat in the middle of a dark room. He felt himself revolving in a circle while at every inch there was a familiar scream. He tried to cover his ears from the painful noise. Suddenly his brother's voice came to his ear in a quiet whisper._

_"Why do you cover your ears? Don't you realize, this is music!"_

_The lights suddenly turned on as his chair revolved to see a symphony. Each instrument played a familiar scream as it dripped blood. The screams belonged to the corpses that were playing them._

_He turned to see his brother smiling evilly, dressed as a conductor._

_"We just need one more violinist for it to be complete." _

Kakashi watched as Sasuke slept for only about ten minutes and bolt right up while running to the bathroom. He heard the telltale sounds of spilling one's guts; so he worriedly walked to the bathroom to check on his charge. The boy roughly ran his arms across his eyes to hide his tears. Kakashi wasn't fooled. The boy looked drained as he dry heaved over the toilet. Kakashi knelt down near the boy and rubbed his back.

"The nightmares, they bother you; don't they?" Kakashi said softly. He remembered the time after Obito died, and how violent the nightmares were. Sasuke looked at him with startled eyes, but they quickly hardened.

"It's none of your business." He said coldly.

"It is my business if you're getting sick because from it."

"You don't know how it feels." Sasuke whispered while shaking his head.

"You'd be surprised of how many feelings I've felt, Sasuke."

"What if he comes back…?" A voice so low said that Kakashi could barely hear it. Before Kakashi could answer he begun again. "What if he comes back and I'm not ready. What if he brings the memories again and I'll throw up like a weakling; like I'm doing right now. How can I beat him? How can I avenge my clan if I'm not good enough when he comes back?" Sasuke said more of his feeling than he ever had before. His voice was shaking but his features were tense. An arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"Simple, I'll protect you." Sasuke looked up quickly with confusion. Kakashi couldn't help but think how cute he looked confused. Before Sasuke could give his input Kakashi gave his explanation.

"You're eight, about 4'3", and about fifty pounds. You're too young to carry those responsibilities on your shoulders. If you hold all this in too long it'll eat you up. I'm your guardian. I promise that I'll never let you get hurt." Kakashi said with a mass of conviction.

Sasuke looked up, trying to wrap his mind around what his guardian just said. He still couldn't understand why someone would go out of their way to do _this_ for _him_.

"Why?" he said in a desperate attempt to understand.

"Because," was the curt reply.

"That doesn't make sense." He mumbled tiredly.

Sasuke's eyes drooped as a shiver went through his body. He heard Kakashi getting up and then felt arms lifting him up. He tried to struggle at the closeness of touch but Kakashi didn't budge. Sasuke was held against Kakashi chest and his head was lying on Kakashi's shoulder. Strong arms encircled Sasuke.

"It doesn't have to." A voice rumbled to his fogged up mind. Sasuke didn't think that the nightmares would go away, but he know this time they would be scared away by the ninja that would protect him for no reason. He drifted off to sleep as Kakashi closed his eyes with slight anger to the older brother.

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After holding the feverish boy for ten minutes, he carefully extricated him from his grasp and put him on his bed. The boy seemed to look better and he hoped he would sleep longer than he had the nights before. Kakashi decided to take the day off just to make sure nothing happened to his sick charge.

He spent the first several hours watching him sleep and reading his usual book. He was startled out of his book when knock came from the main door. He gave one last glance to Sasuke and walked down to the first floor. When he opened the door, he found himself looking at a surprised Iruka.

"_You're_ Sasuke's guardian, Kakashi?" Iruka said clearly taken aback. Kakashi's eye twitched with annoyance.

"How'd you know it was me?"

Iruka just smiled with a harsh reply, "You're not exactly creative. Your other disguise as a Chunin teacher at the academy is completely ridiculous."

"You're good. Though you overreact, I'm not being ridiculous I'm being careful with Sasuke."

"If you would stop telling the kids ways to play tricks on me I wouldn't be so annoyed. You can be so immature sometimes!" Iruka said with exasperation.

"What are you doing here?" he said, changing the subject quickly.

"You are aware that Sasuke wasn't at the academy today, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"May I ask why? I know you may not think school to be all that important but-,"

"He's sick. He is allowed to stay home if he's sick, isn't he?" Kakashi interrupted in a patronizing tone. Iruka look mildly embarrassed.

"Well, yes, but you're supposed to let the academy know when stuff like that happens."

"Well, he's sick. You'll pass on the word, won't you?"

Iruka sweat dropped.

"Well, it doesn't matter now since the academy is done for the day."

"So, did you come all the way over here to tell me that or is there something else?"

"I also came by to give him his homework."

"Your students must really hate you."

"You don't have the slightest idea about teaching. Here." Iruka roughly handed him a small stack of papers.

"He's too sick to do work."

The papers were handed back.

"I'm sure he'll get better."

The papers were once again shoved back to Kakashi.

"Tell him that I wish him well." Iruka said before bolting off. He always had the hardest time making a conversation with Kakashi. Kakashi used him as a source of enjoyment. "Stupid bored jounins." was the last thing Kakashi heard. He gave an amused smile before looking at the work and giving a thoughtful hum.

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Sasuke woke up to a scratching of a pencil. He looked around to find Kakashi sitting idly on a chair, writing something on a paper that looked like a familiar worksheet. He squinted to see his name written on the paper with his sensei's handwriting.

"What're you doing?" were Sasuke's first words. He was unable to keep the hint of suspicion out of his tone. Kakashi looked up with mustered innocence and genuine surprise. He found in his boredom yet another way to annoy his easily irritable friend.

"Oh, you're up. How are you feeling?" Kakashi said, purposefully ignoring Sasuke's question. Sasuke gave up on his guardian's suspicious activity and tried to mentally evaluate his body's health. He felt more rested but oddly lethargic. All drowsiness left his mind and a question immediately popped in his head.

"What're you doing here?"

"I took the day off."

"What? Why?"

"That's unimportant, and you still haven't answered my question." Kakashi said pointedly.

Sasuke propped himself up and deduced that he felt fine. He just had this feeling of weakness that he needed to get out.

"Good enough to train a little." he said trying to get out of bed. He heard a chuckle and found Kakashi's hand on his head quicker than he could blink.

"I disagree. Wait here I'm going to get something."

Sasuke resisted his urge to brood. It will be attractive when he's thirteen, but when he's eight it just looks like an adorable pout that Kakashi never ceases to tease. Within a minute's time, Kakashi appeared with a large bag with hundreds of tiny capsules holding herbs and plants. There was also a small pouch full of medical equipment and a small bowl.

Before he could blink a thermometer was stuck inside his mouth. While waiting for the thermometer, Kakashi started sticking things in his ears and doing things Sasuke could remember from a doctor's checkup. Except Kakashi was quicker and didn't ask an insane amount of questions.

The thermometer was taken out of his mouth. He heard Kakashi mutter something about it still being high.

"How did you learn to do this stuff?"

"An old friend of mine was a medic Nin. She taught me the basics."

Sasuke noticed the strain in Kakashi's voice and decided not to question further.

Kakashi looked at the notes he wrote down and start looking at the unlabelled capsules. He pulled out several different colored capsules as if he had them memorized. He measured a little of each and carefully poured them into the bowl. He poured some water in the bowl and heated it with a fire jutsu.

"I thought you said she only taught you the basics. That seems a little bit more advance." Sasuke pointed out, unable to stop his curiosity.

"Medicines are a bit different. You learn how to do basic ones at the academy. I was considered some type of genius when I was around your age. I studied every art that made a successful ninja. There were some I wasn't too good with, but this I became very interested in. I learned how to make many medicines throughout my travels. What I'm making I've done many times. It's to treat your exhaustion and malnutrition. In your bookshelf there are a few books on medicine. I suggest you read those."

"You're the bookish type and the training type. That's rare at the academy. You must be very powerful." Sasuke muttering more to himself than to Kakashi

. He held a small hint of jealousy.

"No matter how powerful of a ninja you are; it isn't everything." Kakashi said resolutely. Sasuke scoffed silently.

"What's better than being a powerful ninja?"

"Your teammates, your friends and, in some cases, your family. You'll find that there is more to being powerful. There are many things you can lose but that is irreplaceable. You can't hold yourself together by yourself because you'll break easier."

Sasuke could feel the definite amount of emotion swimming in Kakashi's words. He decided not to comment even though he found the explanation far-fetched.

He felt a warm cup being placed in his hands. He stared at the muggy concoction and looked at Kakashi in mild disgust. Kakashi sometimes forgot that his charge was eight, yet Sasuke never stopped giving little reminders.

"Come on I'm not trying to kill you. Just drink it."

Sasuke downed the whole the quickly and cringed with disgust. He felt his body suddenly rejuvenated. He hadn't felt this much energy within weeks. He wondered why Kakashi hadn't given this to him in the first place.

"The sudden burst of energy is a small side-effect."

Sasuke snorted at how Kakashi made it sound like a bad thing. He was about to get up to train but Kakashi handed him a cup. He drank this one without any questions. He felt a weird sensation and looked at Kakashi curiously. Kakashi looked a bit smug.

"That's to counteract the side effect."

Sasuke suddenly felt very drowsy, "Bastard." was his only reply before he dropped off to sleep. Kakashi made a mental note to lecture Sasuke on respect and language. He put away all his stuff neatly. After that he went back to "helping" Sasuke with his homework.

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The next day Sasuke was heading to the academy. He felt a whole lot better but that didn't stop him from being completely pissed with Kakashi. He had slept all of yesterday away. He couldn't help but think what a complete waste it was. Kakashi handed him a stack of papers to give to Iruka-sensei right before he left. Sasuke didn't even want to ask.

His walk to school was uneventful to say the least. He couldn't but feel that something wasn't right, but it was probably just paranoia. As he walked slowly to the classroom he handed the papers to Iruka. His eye twitched. He looked at Sasuke.

"You probably didn't know you had homework?"

Iruka was rewarded with a look of confusion.

"That's what I thought." Iruka sighed and sat down while Sasuke slowly click the puzzle in his. He didn't know if he wanted to thank or strangle his guardian. He slowly went to sit down and found Neji sitting right next to him. He felt an uneasy feeling as Neji gave him a cool look.

"Where were you yesterday?"

"Kaishi made me stay home. He thought I was too sick or something."

"It's about time."

"What do you mean by that?" was the indignant reply.

"I'm just saying you seemed to look more tired than the Hokage himself. Well, now that I think about it you looked older than him also." Neji said with a mocking smile. Before Sasuke could properly reply class had commenced.

It wasn't that Iruka was a boring teacher. It was more his topics of teaching were more just of encouragement to get extra hours of sleeps.

"When stuck in a forest the first good thing to do is to make a fire before there is no more light." Iruka droned.

The rules of survival certainly didn't seem like a boring topic but Iruka seem to make it that way.

"Now gather the sticks and stack them neatly. I'll show you an example of stacking sticks so that you get the most out of your fire"

He was very good at explaining things, a good encourager, and kept his class in control. He just lacked the certain finesse in making things interesting.

"Now after you have a perfectly stacked fire. You now must put stones around the fire to control it. Do not put it too close or too far."

Sasuke tapped his pencil gently on the table as he tried to listen to the key points of what Iruka was saying. Sasuke had a distinct talent in listening but not listening. His notepad currently had various notes. Mainly of new techniques he thought he would do while training.

"Let's have a little fun. Sticks and stones have been gathered for you to stack neatly. You can work together to make them efficient."

The class groaned at such a boring project. Once someone found out going to the academy was very boring it became such a chore. Yet, when Iruka added that whoever made the best stack would be allowed to light it, there was quite a bit more enthusiasm.

They were grouped into threes. Neji and Sasuke were grouped together and a girl named Tenten joined. She was one of the only girls in the class and she really was the only one who stood out.

They expertly stacked the sticks without a problem. Neji put the stones around then they sat back waiting for the class to finish.

"Sasuke right?" Tenten said looking at him with a small smile.

Sasuke nodded not really wanting to respond. He felt weird about talking to Tenten. She was a bit shy. The kids mostly saw her by a creek a mile down from the academy swishing a sword about. She practiced with many weapons but her long sword was what she treasured.

A lot of the students saw her as an obsessed and stuck-up for her lack of communication. Neji and Sasuke, on the other hand, saw her as diligent and unable to relate since the goal of being a weapons master was her life.

She looked at us as we watched each other silently. She took out a kunai and started flipping it around without a second thought. It must be a nervous habit of some sort was what Sasuke thought. Neji finally fed up with the silence started a topic.

"So what types of swords do you usually practice with?"

"I mainly use shoto blades since they work well with my speed, although daito blades are what I hope to master. I'm working with my katana. I hope to improve. Have you guys practiced with any swords?"

"I don't have much experience. My brother knew a bit about swords." Sasuke trailed off from there. He shuddered a bit. He was quiet for the rest of the conversation.

Neji continued the conversation about the swords and thought that it would be good if they practice when they got the time. Tenten agreed. They could talk no further because the whole class had finished the assignment. Sasuke was trying to breathe. The conversations about swords had brought up the horrible memory of how some of his family members died. The memory of his brother had forced into him so vividly.

The class started to light one of the piles of sticks in a contained environment as Iruka-sensei said. Suddenly Sasuke started to smell the smoke. He couldn't breathe. He felt hot all over and it fell like the whole room was on fire. He didn't know what was happening. He started to hear screaming and his brothers sadistic laughter. He felt himself fall to the floor and his name was called multiple times.

The whole class watched in horror as Sasuke fell to the floor. He looked like he was having a seizure and a panic attack at the same time. Iruka got a sane student and had him get a nurse. Sasuke stopped suddenly and blacked out. The class was in chaos. Instead of a nurse arriving a strangely dressed Chunin arrived and ran to Sasuke in a very advanced speed. He took him, and they disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Kakashi was, of course, the ninja that picked up his charge. He pulled all the details from a student rushing to the nurse's office. When he found that Sasuke was having a panic attack, he knew he had to be there. He was rushing to the hospital and when he made it, Sasuke was immediately taken from him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He waited for what seemed like hours and a medic Nin came out. Kakashi immediately stood up and looked at her with solemn eyes. She looked at him a bit apprehensively.

"We are not sure what happened. We know that the panic attack happened by the trauma. We do not know why there was a seizure or what triggered it all. We have a few theories but we need a more time. He needs to stay in the hospital."

"If that's what you think is best. Can I see him?"

"Yes, he is in a stable condition as of right now."

Kakashi quickly entered the room his charge was in. He looked down in worry. He didn't know Sasuke was traumatized so badly. The boy suddenly woke up breathing heavily. He looked around with fear trying to see where he was. He seemed to be heading towards another panic attack.

Kakashi quickly put his hands on the boy's shoulder. "Sasuke you are in the hospital. There's no one here who is going to hurt you. Calm down. You're fine."

The boy slowly started to relax and his breathing evened out.

"Do you remember what happened, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up slowly with fear.

"The room started to burn up and my brother was laughing."

"Sasuke, that was all in your head. You had a panic attack and than you started to have seizures."

"It all seemed so real." Sasuke said shakily

"The doctors don't know what's wrong. You need to stay in the hospital longer for them to do some tests."

"What about my training? I can't just get weak like this. " Sasuke said. Kakashi resisted the undying urge to roll his eyes. The boy just had a seizure and he still focuses on the training.

"I believe your health is little more important." Kakashi stated sarcastically. Sasuke pouted a bit.

"Do you have any Idea what triggered the panic attack?" Kakashi asked getting straight to the point.

Sasuke stared at him as if thinking slowly. He looked away. "No." Sasuke brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin onto them. Kakashi had a feeling the boy knew exactly what triggered it.

"You don't have the slightest idea?"

"I said no." He said burying his head into his knees.

"Hmmm, you know this is important for us to know. I know you know at least _something._"

"I don't want to talk about it." Kakashi was silent for a moment and decided to let it go.

"I'm going to go speak with a doctor." Kakashi said.

Kakashi left the room and Sasuke looked up. He was tense. He didn't want to think about what happened. It all felt so real. He knew he was getting paranoid. Yet he felt that his brother was near. He was getting closer and that he was going to torture him.

He suddenly felt that suffocating feeling. The glass shattered and his brother walked through. He looked straight at him. He smiled peevishly.

"Hello, brother. Do you think it's paranoia now?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Cliffhanger. Oh no! Well anyways I decided I want to add Tenten. I really like to play with characters that aren't really focused on that much. I didn't want to have another team seven story. (Not that I mind that stuff). I'm having a hard time on where to put Kaishi and where to put Kakashi in the story. So I'm just going to use Kakashi unless Sasuke is talking about him. If you have any suggestions I would love them. I really like the help on Neji character. I'm trying tone him down a bit. Thanks for the reviews! I have an unexpected twist that you guys will love!


	4. Undesired Mysteries

Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything except my imagination. It's not worth as much though. I'll sell it to you for ten bucks.

* * *

Sasuke could feel his breathing grow harsh as he watched his brother's piercing red eyes carefully. He didn't know what was going to happen next. He new he was panicking when his eyes darted between his bother and the door. He tried to bolt towards the door but the IVs attached to his arm pulled off. He faltered at this and a hand pulled him back sharply. He turned to see his brothers face pulled into a sneer.

His heartbeat quickened with fear but with a sudden burst of anger he spit in his brother's face and tried to hit him.

"Let me go!"

"Do you think I would let you run off? I've come, brother. I've come to finish the job I started. I now realize my mistake in letting," he started to lift Sasuke from the ground, "You" he lifted him higher, "LIVE!" With that he threw his brother against the wall.

Sasuke slid against the wall down to the ground groaning in pain. He felt something warm and sticky travel across the back of his head. He brought his hand back and looked at it to see it dripping in blood. He shakily stood up and glared defiantly at his brother.

His brother started to step closer and Sasuke, delirious with pain, backed into the wall, his bravery gone with the tide. His brother stepped right in from of him with a look of disgust.

"This is the product of the Uchiha clan. A coward is one of the only heirs of the great our clan. You're nothing to me now!"

With that his brother kicked him into the glass that was scattered across the floor. The pieces gashed into Sasuke's hands and knees. His breath was raspy from having the wind knocked out of him. He closed his eyes tight with a couple tears falling off the corners of his eyes.

"Sasuke!"

He opened his eyes. He knew that voice. His eyes darted to the doorway to see his guardian staring at him with worry.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't expect that to come from his guardians lips. What does he mean? He saw his brothers narrow his eyes at his guardian and then come closer to Sasuke. Kakashi didn't even attempt to move. Why was he standing there? Did he think this was the perfect time to give up on his charge?

"Why are you standing there?! Itachi is going to kill me. He's going to torture me. If you're not going to kill him for me will you please kill him for Konoha?" Sasuke pleaded.

Kakashi's face suddenly grew alert as he looked around quickly scanning the room.

"I don't see him, where did he go?!"

Sasuke looked at Kakashi with helplessness while with his peripheral vision he was watching Itachi approach him.

Itachi took Sasuke by the hair and whispered in his ear.

"He can't see me. I'm too powerful for that."

"He says that you can't see him, but he's right next to me. He's going to kill me!!" Sasuke said trying to struggle from his brother's grasp. His brother pinned his to the wall and brought his hand to his throat.

"Sasuke, stop."

The odd phrase stood stagnant in the air.

"Can't you see what He's doing to me?" Sasuke choked out. His eyes began to tear from loss of oxygen. Sasuke tried to claw the hand away from his throat.

"I can't see him All I can see is you-,"

Kakashi stopped in mid sentence and looked at him with a blank calculating stare. He pulled off his glasses and activated his Sharigan eye.

Itachi let go of Sasuke and Sasuke was speechless. Who was this man and why did he have the Sharigan eye? He watched as his guardian bypassed his brother and started to approach him.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke said. Fear began to rise in his chest when Kakashi didn't answer. Did his guardian just want to kill him? Was he on Itachi's side this whole time?!

Kakashi held the same facial expression and approached Sasuke and looked him straight into his eyes. Sasuke heard Kakashi mutter something under his breath that held a hint of terror.

He suddenly felt like his head was about to explode. He started to scream at the top of his lungs. Why was his guardian killing him! Everything went black.

* * *

(REWIND BUT WITH KAKASHI'S POINT OF VIEW)

Kakashi left the room and found a medic Nin in the lobby. He approached her with a curt speed. She looked at him expectantly when he approached the desk. He was quite upset about how Sasuke was being ignored. The wanted the test results and he wanted to get him and Sasuke out of here.

Kakashi was a very impatient man.

"I would like to speak with Medic Nin in charge of the patient, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Can you please just wait one moment?"

"I don't have time for moment. My charge has been left unattended for most of the day and I would like to speak to the person who takes him so lightly."

"I believe you're making false accusations. It is our belief that Uchiha-san is healthy enough to be given some space. Uchiha-san also requested to be left alone."

"Well, I'm his guardian. I would advise you to listen to me and not an eight-year-old-boy!"

"Can you please sit down and be patient. I will be with you in a moment."

Kakashi was losing his temper; he glared fiercely at the Medic Nin who had the audacity to defy him. He was about to say something nasty until he heard something shatter in Sasuke's general direction.

It was in his nature to think the worst and that is what he did. He rushed to the room only to see a horrible sight.

He watched Sauske run and throw himself against a wall and slide down. Sasuke touched the back of his head and blood was dripping from his hands. He was speechless until Sasuke dragged himself across glass shards. He was ripping up his knees and hands.

Sasuke's breathing was harsh and his eyes were closed tightly. It seemed like he was lost to the world around him.

"Sasuke!"

He saw the boy look quickly at him with a mixture of relief and dread. Kakashi couldn't help but being concerned seeing Sasuke sitting there bleeding all over.

"What are you doing?!"

He immediately knew that was the wrong thing to say. A flicker of horror brushed across the face but it was gone before he could blink. Sasuke looked at something in a distance and looked at him with almost a questioning look.

"Why are you standing there?! Itachi is going to kill me. He's going to torture me. If you're not going to kill him for me will you please kill him for Konoha?" Sasuke pleaded.

Kakashi felt a pain of regret that he gave his charge the idea that he didn't care about him. But he quickly brushed it off. He jumped with a mixture of anger and fear at the fact that Itachi was in this very room and he had missed it. He took a fighting stance and scanned the room only to find it empty.

"I don't see him where did he go?"

He saw Sasuke look at him in desperation. Kakashi felt helpless not knowing what to do.

"He says that you can't see him, but he's right next to me. He's going to kill me!!"

Sasuke grabbed his hair and pinned himself against the wall. He started to choke himself while struggling with his own hands. Kakashi's words stuck in his throat. How was Itachi going undetected!

"Sasuke, Stop."

"Can't you see what He's doing to me?" was all Sasuke choked out while he struggled to get his own hand off his neck. Kakashi wanted to just kill off Itachi but he couldn't see him.

"I can't see him all I can see is you-,"

Kakashi cut off in mid-sentence. He felt his stomach turn. Was Sasuke going crazy? He looked at him carefully and almost saw something flicker in Sasuke's eyes. He took off his glasses not caring what Sasuke thought. He activated his Sharigan eye. He could only detect Sasuke and he approached him slowly.

He drew closer and looked into Sasuke's eyes. He was suddenly pulled in the inner workings of Sasuke's brain. It was a jutsu that helped one detect the opponent's next move during a fight. In this case, Kakashi couldn't explain it why it was so detailed. Maybe because Sasuke might be a Sharigan holder.

He saw chakra other than Sasuke's being transmitted through his brain. He used a jutsu that depletes chakra and he started to absorb this foreign chakra. He threw the foreign chakra against the hospital wall.

He immediately stopped when he heard Sasuke scream and fall limp. He looked at his charge gaunt face. He feared for his charge's life.

Sasuke's blood dripped all over Kakashi's hands. All Kakashi could think of was, "What is wrong with you?" as he brought him to his chest and screamed for a medic Nin with righteous anger. The scream could be heard across every hall.

* * *

Authors note: it is short I know. It's been a while and I just wanted to get it up. If I added anymore it would be too long and I would put it off. Sorry for the wait. College life is not for the faint of heart :P Please read and review!!!! PLEASE! PLEEEEEAAAASSSSEE! 


	5. Undesired Revelations

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this

He blinked and Sasuke was out of his arms, a rush of voices smothered the air. Worry tightened the atmosphere. The confusion filed the room so thickly it could be cut with a knife. There were two head medic Nins, and several medic assistants murmuring throughout the room. They were expertly cleaning and wrapping his wounds. They were reattaching the monitors, Fluids, and IVs. Kakashi looked at his blood soaked hands.

He breathed; the tightly contained air came out of his chest. In his entire career he had never been so close to fear, never brushed so close to panic, never hesitated so long, never felt so helpless. So helpless to watch the boy slowly being covered in white gauze spattered with red. An image that so clearly defined a pure boy stained with violence. He felt a hand touch his shoulder.

He glared so fiercely, the anger on the behalf of his charge gleamed in his uncovered eyes. The medic assistant took a step back and hesitated. It was enough for Kakashi to stand and become more menacing than before. He looked around the room, power sparking threateningly around him. He approached the annoying medic Nin from the front desk.

She was leaning against a wall taking a breather from all the excitement. Kakashi slammed his fist into the wall barely an inch from her face. He leaned close to her ear.

"Does he look healthy enough for you? Or were you waiting for him to get hurt enough to actually pay attention. If you ask me to give you a moment again I'll make sure it will be your last moment." He whispered so dangerously that the medic Nin paled. He never meant that he would kill her but he wouldn't correct her if that's what she thought.

One of the head medic Nins approached him with a serious face.

"I think it would be best to leave the room until we get him stable. I would like to have as many of my team alive during these difficult procedures." He said sternly. Kakashi looked at him for a moment and nodded while walking out of the room.

He sat on the bench his back rigged and his face emotionless. He readjusted his head protector and mask. It would take a complete idiot to not know that he was entirely pissed. Under his pissed exterior was a calculating genius, trying to solve the puzzle of Sasuke's mind. Insanity was his first theory. He wanted so badly to brush it off, but it was the fact that Sasuke may be severely traumatized for the entirety of his life.

Sasuke seemed fine until these recent events. He hunched over and sighed. His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps approaching. They were slow and unequal portraying fear and nervousness. Every step grated on his already frayed nerves. He composed himself and looked up.

A man, maybe a few years older than him, looked weary and smelled strongly of numerous herbs. He had long black hair that framed his face, glasses that rested on the tip of his nose, and a nervous smile.

"Hatake-san, I am the medic in charge of Sasuke-Chan. The events are puzzling at the most. I would like to know what exactly happened when you entered the room." The man stated with a surprisingly steady voice.

Kakashi gave him nonchalant look, "The room that you should have been in." the man had the decency to look ashamed.

"I connected to his mind through his Sharigan eye and saw foreign chakra running throughout his brain interfering with his mental energy used to control his own chakra. I was able to absorb it and it was the only thing that calmed him down."

The man's eyes widened,

Kakashi gave him a questioning glance, "Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"I believe he may have Post traumatic stress syndrome mixed with a rare chakra disorder. I've only read about it."

"What does it do?"

"This disorder only happens when people have the capability to access the chakra inside one's mind. It's happened a number of times in the Uchiha clan. By putting an excess amount of pressure on the boys mind through a jutsu some remnants of the user's chakra is left in that part of the brain disrupting the mental energy and throwing off the victims chakra. When something triggers the traumatic event with Sasuke, he accesses that part of his brain thus activating and multiplying the foreign chakra. In this case his chakra his set loose from lack of control causing severe hallucinations that are almost real."

"How do we get rid of it?"

The man faltered for brief moment, "The only way to get rid of it is to get the user of the jutsu to absorb back his chakra."

"I was able to take it out." Kakashi said trying to control his temper at the mention of the traitor's name.

"You were able to tame and take out the multiplied chakra; that does not mean you can remove the root. For most people with this disorder they do not survive past the first trigger. You're lucky, but there are some dangers. If you are not there within the hour that he is triggered he could possibly die or go insane because the chakra is quickly multiplied."

Kakashi could feel his heart beat quicken. "Is there anyway he can be prevented from being triggered?"

"There is no permanent way, besides the one I mentioned, but he can take a special drug that calms him down to an unconscious state if he feels he is about to be triggered. He would be left in that state for a couple hours."

"Prescribe him it." Kakashi ordered walking away. The man blinked and nodded. Kakashi entered the room to see the boy sleeping. He was bandaged on his arms, legs and head. He looked much younger with his face so relaxed. Kakashi sat next to him. He could not help but be concerned that if he wasn't there all the time his charge may die. Who was going to find Itachi though? He sighed, he would think about that later among other things.

* * *

It was a few hours that passed when his charge started to stir. Kakashi was half asleep when he heard the rustling of the blanket. His head shot up becoming instantly aware. It was common for ninjas to be light sleepers.

Sasuke shot up and started to quickly look around. His breathing was harsh and uneven. He looked like he was struggling to get out of bed. Kakashi feared the worst.

"Sasuke! Calm down!" He said sternly fearing that Sasuke would once again be triggered into another hallucination. Sasuke turned to him but his face did not calm down.

"You tried to kill me! You have a Sharigan eye; you tried to kill me with it!" He rasped out of his distressed throat. Kakashi gave him a pointed look.

"If I tried to kill you, you would be dead. I think that after this time you have been with me you would know better than to assume that I would try to hurt you." Kakashi said condescendingly. Sasuke glared at him, but you could see relief in his eyes.

"What about Itachi?"

"Hallucination."

"What?!" Sasuke wasn't surprised very often but when he was it was noticed. A hallucination would make sense though, he thought idly. Kakashi sighed and started to explain to Sasuke about his little disorder.

Kakashi ended with giving Sasuke the prescribed medication, "This must always be on you. It will immediately calm you down to state of unconscious serenity for a couple hours." Sasuke took is silently. He clenched it tightly.

"I want to go with you to capture Itachi. I want to avenge my clan."

Kakashi look at Sasuke. Sasuke looked so much older with those words coming out of his mouth. He sighed; he had thought he had cleared this up with his charge.

"No." he said shortly.

"What?! Why?!" Sasuke was seething with anger.

"It's not safe. In your condition you would get another panic attack the minute you saw him. This is not your fight, okay?"

"What do you mean 'not my fight'? He killed my family, I must kill him. I'm not going to sit in this stupid bed, waiting in this stupid room, taking these stupid PILLS!" with that he threw the pills against the wall and the bottle burst open and the pills scattered across the floor.

Sasuke was breathing heavily and Kakashi looked unusually serious. His long fingers gripped around Sasuke's thin shoulders firmly.

"Wrong answer." He said tightly He gave a longsuffering sigh, let go of Sasuke's shoulders, and got up. He started picking up the pills and putting them back in the bottle.

Sasuke shrugged and looked away.

"I don't think you realize the extent of this disorder. If you want to die before you can see your brother and not some hallucination then you should reorganize your priorities. I will not accept foolishness." Kakashi handed his the pills. "Seeking out your brother is suicide."

"I don't care; no one else seems to be doing anything." Sasuke scoffed.

"A team, far above your skill, has been dispatched. So no drastic plans of revenge."

Sasuke gave him a petulant look his small hands still clenching the pills, he nodded shortly in agreement. Kakashi's face softened, he couldn't help but ruffle his hair, that only made Sasuke scowl.

"Get some sleep. I need to speak with the hokage. You should be out of here in a couple days. Behave for all the pretty medic kunoichis." Kakashi winked.

"Pervert."

Kakashi gave a low chuckle a poofed out of the room.

Sasuke then came to the realization that Kakashi never answered his question about the Sharigan eye.

"Baka"

* * *

Sasuke was bored and restless. He wouldn't be out until the next day and it was driving him crazy. His guardian had only dropped by for a few minutes and it was just to see if he had not caused any trouble.

He was sick of all these girls coming in and telling him how cute he was. His medic Nin was always extremely nervous and checked on him every 20 minutes. Sasuke had repeatedly told him he was fine and he could handle himself, but the man refused to budge.

So Sasuke decided he would take it upon himself and leave. He took out all the things attached to him. His monitor started flat-lining so he knew he had to get out fast.

He opened the window. Even though he was on the third floor, that did not stop him from jumping to a tree and then sliding down the trunk to the bottom.

He ran as fast as he could for a half a mile and then stopped. He was a bit fatigued from lying in his bed for so long. It had been five minutes of walking; he took breath of the air. It was nice being away from the stuffiness.

"Yo, you forgot these."

Sasuke's eyes twitched as he deftly caught a bottle of pills.

"What're you doing here." He said as he turned around to see his guardian.

"I get alerts on the going ons in your room. When I saw that you were flat lining I assumed that you had left. You made it quite obvious that you had left through the window with help from a tree. You should do a better job at hiding your tracks."

"I'm not going back."

"I didn't expect you to, but you need to get home. You don't want to tear your wounds now do you?"

Sasuke just looked at him silently. Kakashi's visible eye curved as he silently steered Sasuke of the direction of the orphanage. Sasuke stopped suddenly.

"Why do you have a Sharigan eye?"

"It's not your business."

"Only Uchihas have the eye. It's my business."

"It's my eye so I think it's my business. If you're wondering, I am not related to you."

"You're not answering my question." Although Kakashi had answered part of it.

"End of discussion, aright?" Kakashi said cheerfully but there was a hint of danger in his voice.

"Hn." Sasuke glared vehemently at his guardian. He still wondered who exactly he was.

* * *

It had been three days; he was now allowed to go back to the academy. Kakashi had asked him three times if he had his pills. Sasuke had answered the third time with something about shoving it up someone's lower extremity. That had earned him a smack upside the head. This had put Sasuke in an unusually bad mood, that and the strange looks he was getting from his classmates.

He sat in the back with a dark look on his face. Someone plopped down to the seat right next to him. Sasuke glanced to the side to see Neji leaning back in his chair.

"What happened last week? You went crazy." Neji said, he seemed slightly pissed by being left in the dark.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I heard through certain connections that you went crazy at the hospital also."

"You shouldn't' believe everything you hear."

"Well, you sure aren't doing anything about it. I'll believe differently if you tell me what's happening."

Sasuke gave him long look and then looked away. He leaned his head on his hand look forward, darkly.

"I'll tell you later." He said shortly. Iruka chose then to walk in.

"Good morning class. Sasuke, it's good to have you back." Iruka gave him a kind smile and then returned his attention to the lecture. That softened the sharp edges of Sasuke's glare, a little.

The lecture was about different types of defense techniques. Sasuke sighed; he had read several books about this already. Kakashi had forced him to read them after Sasuke was only focused on reading offensive books. Kakashi had gone on an annoyingly long lecture on the reason of having a good defense.

He looked to his side to see Neji tapping his pencil to the table with a bored look on his face. He chose then to look to his left and saw Ten-Ten lazily spinning a shuriken on her finger. Ten-Ten glanced at him and gave him victory sign. Sasuke rolled his eyes but Ten-Ten didn't take it personally. Sasuke was just glad she wasn't asking a million questions.

"Okay, Class, We're going to practice these techniques outside." His two friends immediately sat up. They went outside. Sasuke was paired up, thankfully, with Neji. He believed Iruka had done that on purpose, even though the names were picked out randomly.

Sasuke was assigned first as the offensive. It took a while but Sasuke had broken through his defenses. They had taken to taunting each other with juvenile insults like "Baby" and "Weakling" or even "Dobe". Sasuke switched to defensive.

"You'll never get through me you Dobe." Neji started slow but was quickly hitting Sasuke's arms as he deftly guarded himself. Neji jumped up and was about to kick him in the face when Sasuke back flipped.

"Oh, baby can do a back flip."

"Don't start crying if you can't catch me."

"It's on." Neji said with an evil smirk.

He jumped up and started to kick Sasuke's hands as fast as he could. Sasuke blocked them. Neiji ducked down and did a roundhouse kick but Sasuke jumped up. Neji anticipated this and flipped upward and kicked Sasuke on the shoulder causing Sasuke to stumble backwards.

Neji smirked, "Now the final and sweetest blow will be given to the weakest of them all." Neji said jokingly. Sasuke froze. He remembers those exact words coming from his brother when he had tortured his mother to death. Suddenly he saw Neji and then he saw Itachi and then he saw Itachi being replaced with Neji and vice versa. It was like he was going in and out of focus.

Suddenly he grew extremely angry and started to attack Neji/Itachi. Neji looked very surprised.

"What the-," Neji yelled as he tried to block Sasuke. Sasuke looked distant and extremely angry. Iruka looked at the group. When he saw Sasuke attacking Neji in almost a deadly way he knew immediately what was wrong. Kakashi had made it very clear what to do. Iuka ran over. Neji looked like a mix between scared and worried.

Iruka pushed Neiji out of the way and slammed Sasuke roughly on the ground. A bruise wasn't as bad as dying from brain damage. Sasuke felt his connect to the ground and saw Iruka looking very serious.

"Where are your pills?" Sasuke started to struggle.

"Itachi." He said breathlessly.

"Sasuke, pay attention. Where. Are. Your. Pills!" Sasuke's eyes widened. Part of him knew what was happening so he used all his self will to break through.

"Left pocket." Iruka grabbed them out and shoved them in Sasuke's mouth. He held Sasuke's nose and Sasuke swallowed. He suddenly went limp. Iruka sighed and lifted Sasuke from the ground. He looked at Neji. Neji was scrutinizing him closely.

"Itachi did this to him, didn't he?"

Iruka looked at him harshly but then it softened.

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"I'm not authorized to say."

"He's my friend. He was going to tell me anyways!"

"He'll tell you when he can. Class get inside now!" the curious students rushed inside seeing that Iruka wasn't very forgiving.

"You know. Tell me."

"I don't take orders from my students."

"But-,"

"It's a disorder." A smooth voice entered the conversation. Kakashi came from behind a tree and moved towards Sasuke. He grabbed Sasuke out of Iruka's arms.

"What does it do?"

"It causes him to hallucinate when he is reminded of the traumatic events that took place a few months ago."

"What's with the pills?" Neji was going to get as much answers as he could.

"They help calm him down before the disorder takes over his mind."

"Is there a cure."

"Yes."

"Well, what is it?!"

"His brother." Kakashi said enigmatically. With that he poofed away. Neji's eyes widened than they studied the ground. Iruka was worried. The rest of the day Neji was unusually quiet. He didn't agree with Kakashi about telling Neji all that information. Neji was far too young to hold that burden, but since when was Kakashi one to gauge age correctly. He was very powerful at that age. He was never one to know the difference.

* * *

A few hours later Sasuke opened his eyes to see that he was in his room. He silently started cursing at the fact he was so vulnerable to the attacks.

"Where did you lean that language?" Sasuke started and then saw his guardian sitting languidly in his seat. He never understood why it was so hard to feel his presence.

"Itachi." Sasuke smirked.

"I thought it sounded familiar." Sasuke gave Kakashi a curious look. Did he know his brother before the massacre?

"So what was it this time?"

Sasuke dreaded the question.

"Neji said something similar to what Itachi said during the massacre." Kakashi was surprised how quickly and truthfully Sasuke had answered. Maybe Sasuke was starting to open up. Although Sasuke knew that Kakashi can be annoyingly persistent and cruel when he is trying to get information.

A heavy and unrelenting knock came from the front door. Kakashi got up with a slightly annoyed look on his face. He went downstairs and opened it up to see a panting Iruka.

"This better not be about homework." Kakashi said wryly.

"Neji, he's disappeared!"

* * *

A/N: Tah-dah! I know, it's been forever. If you have any questions, just let me know. I'll try to answer them quickly. There may be a few typos. I'm using a laptop and some of the keys get stuck and the computer doesn't register it. Anyways, please R and R. 


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